I have an ex domestic partner. We were as legally married as we could be at the time. They were not allowing gay folks to marry yet when we were together in 2005 so we became domestic partners in the state of California. But alas in 2008, we started "divorce" proceedings. It was legally called dissolution of our domestic partnership. I I liked to joke that we were getting dissolved

I never actually lived in sin, at least not in the way that most people would think of it, but I DID share apartments with people of various sexes and genders. I've also been married twice. The second one is working a lot better than the first one did, and I'm pretty sure this one is going to stick. It has lasted over 7 years already and I don't *think* we have any insurmountable differences.

Hahaha .... I don't think so ... or at least I hope not. I'm actually in the process of retiring from taxidermy. (I've been retiring for 5 years now!) It's not proving to be as easy as I had hoped, but I'm making progress.

That's not really an option, PiF.The reason I'm retiring from taxidermy is because I can't see up close well enough to do the fine details without using a magnifier, and that gives me a splitting headache almost instantly. That, and I've accumulated so much tendon damage to my hands over the years that I can't cut and manipulate heavy-gauge wire any more. Any wire over 9ga is too stiff for me to handle, and that means I can't do any birds that are over about 4-5 lbs.I just want out. I feel like 40 years should be enough; I'm ready to turn it over to the next generation.

If I EVER get finished with my clients' work then there are a few very special personal birds that I've been saving to keep for my own enjoyment. I just hope I can get to them before it's too late. I have about 60 clients' birds in the freezer that still need to be done, and some have been here for over 5 YEARS.This is just horrible because for most of my career I've been able to get them completed and back to their owners in 6 to 12 months. I feel very bad for my clients .... like I'm betraying them.

I neglected taking care of my home and property for decades in order to keep to that schedule, and now I HAVE TO play catch up on all of the maintenance that I let slide. It's not an option at this point. One more season without a roof replacement is going to do some serious damage to our home, plus we need new siding and gutters. I need to finish (in effect) 3 more outbuildings in order to tear down some old and rat-infested ones that are too close to the house.Those buildings are also helping the turkeys to get on the roof, which is a big part of its problem, so all of these tasks are depending on each other to various degrees. And then there's the fence, the constantly falling trees, etc etc etc. Kæth doesn't do home or property maintenance so it's either up to me or we have to hire a contractor. And money IS an object for us when it gets to big things like that.